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Sirentian drank Yunnan Bao Hong Spring Early Green Tea by Yunnan Sourcing

261 tasting notes

I love the smell of this dry leaf––so intense and delicious, that toasty chestnut flavour you associate with Dragon Wells, along with some brown sugar. It has that heavenly 冲天 quality aroma that I think Chinese people associate with really primo tea.

After doing some research, this Bao Hong Tea（宝洪茶）is apparently also called Yi Liang Dragon Well（宜良龙井）.

1st infusion: (15s)
Pale yellow liquor, as expected of a Chinese green. The tea smells so similar to a good Dragon Well, but the taste is sadly more bland. But it is a good round thick mouthfeel, with juicy almost fruity aftertaste.

2nd infusion: (30s)
The wet leaf has some seriously complex aroma going on that I don’t even feel equipped to try to analyse right now. Maybe roasted plum and golden raisin? The tea smells and tastes like Dragon Well, except with a stronger fruit note and lacking that crisp edge that I recall 龙井 has.

Verdict: Overall a beautiful, interesting green for people who love Dragon Well but want to try a variant. I’m drinking the March 2016 harvest in the first week of April, pretty much as fresh and splendid as a green tea gets. Note: It’s possible I underleafed, will try this again with the ridiculous 5g they tell me to per 100ml.

Rating: 87

Flavors: Brown Sugar, Chestnut, Plum, Raisins

Preparation

175 °F / 79 °C 0 min, 15 sec 3 g 5 OZ / 150 ML

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Bio

Amateur tea enthusiast here. I told myself I would start with studying Chinese teas when I first encountered good tea at Song Tea in San Francisco in 2016, and it’s now 2023 and I feel like I’m still just beginning to scratch the surface of Chinese teas.

Maybe someday I will move on to Indian, Japanese, Korean, etc. teas…

For my day job I work in tech as well as write some fiction on the side.

The next step in my tea journey is to start training my nose with an aroma kit to get a more precise handle on floral notes.

My Tea Rating Scale: (adapted from @benmw)
100 : Unforgettable, life-changing tea experience.
95–99: Extraordinary – Beyond impressive.
90–94: Impressive – Deep complexity, extreme clarity, or unexpected discovery of wonderful flavor. Made me reconsider the category. Would always want to drink this if I had the chance.
80–89: Delicious – Nuanced, balanced, clear, and complex layering of flavors. Would probably buy this tea again.
70–79: Very Good – Nuanced flavors, perhaps not as balanced or complex as the next step up, but clear and very enjoyable. Would consider buying again if the price was right.
60–69: Good – Clear flavors, representative of the category, but doesn’t set a standard. Good as an everyday tea. Would not buy unless desperate (e.g. when travelling without access to better tea).
50–59: Average. Would not pay money for this, but would drink if it was provided FOC.
30–49: Below Average. Would not drink this again even if it were free.
0–29: Undrinkable. Could not even finish the cup.

Location

Singapore

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